Motorized remote controlled lighting is primarily used in stage settings. Typically a rotational motor is housed in a base unit for panning the light in full circle, and a second motor is housed in yolk to tilt the lamp between horizontal and vertical orientations.
In non-motorized recessed interior lighting for a ceiling, a two axis gimbal arrangement is often used when manual adjustability is required. Two orthogonal axes are arranged parallel to the ceiling, and movement is achieved with a turn of 180 degrees or less of each axis. This has disadvantages because the light beam can be obstructed by fixture components at more extreme angles from vertical, and adjustment is less intuitive than pan and tilt. However, it is perceived as more elegant, and the construction is simple, requiring only screws or rivets to create the rotational axes.
Attempts have been made to add remote control to recessed lighting in the past. These generally have used a pan and tilt arrangement, where a round stage is rotated via a motor actuating a large gear to achieve pan, and a second motor tilts the lamp. These have resulted in large purpose-built ‘cans’ that reside in the ceiling to hide all the motors and wiring to the motors.
When a motorized two-axis gimbal arrangement for a light fixture has been attempted, the motors had to be mounted remotely because the heat of the lamp could ruin motors, which results in a bulky and complex configuration.